INTERVIEW: Richie Brown of Mindscar

How do you achieve such a large sound with only three members? Especially during live gigs?

The same way that Rush does, by playing our asses off.

Now it's said that your cover art is completely comprised of blood and semen, what exactly was the motivation behind such a decision?

Creating What’s Beyond The Light took many personal sacrifices from an entire group of people. The large amount of blood used is symbolic of the large amount of energy that went into creating the album. Metallica mixed a small amount of their blood and semen together for the cover of Load and Behemoth used a small amount of Nergal’s blood in the cover painting for The Satanist. However, No one has ever used this much blood for an album cover. It’s alarming to see in person. Naturally, my semen was the icing on the cake.

Would you say artwork is just as big a part of music as the music itself?

Artwork is extremely important! You gotta have the visual aspect of things covered! However, music itself is the most important.

When I was a kid, I was heavily influenced by Metallica and Pantera. Metallica inspired me to begin playing guitar to begin with. Pantera inspired me to write heavier riffs and take my leads to the next level. These two bands were the bread and butter of my self-taught guitar education as a kid.

What's a day in the live of a Mindscar member like?

Each one of us is constantly writing new material, teaching music lessons and working towards improving at our instruments when we’re not on stage. We all like to keep busy and are all involved in other projects as well. I have recently been traveling and playing guitar live for Nader Sadek in different countries.

What the funniest or craziest thing you all did together as a band?

We accidentally took some crazy drugs that we would never knowingly take due to a miscommunication with someone who was providing hospitality for the band on tour. It was an experience that none of us will ever forget. We are all very health conscience to begin with so it was a scary surprise.

What's the most bizarre thing to happen while you were onstage?

Sharting in my pants. Haha! After years of touring, it was inevitable. All the belting from my diaphragm puts a lot of pressure on my guts. Now I literally don’t eat for about 6 hours before a show or else I’m in the danger zone.